New Fiat Film from Krow Shows Style-Conscious ‘Thirtysomethings’ the Perks of Growing Older

A young woman finds solace for turning 30 in her new Fiat 500X in a new campaign for the Italian car brand created by krow communications.

The new Fiat 500X is targeted at style-conscious thirtysomethings who are coming to terms with their new life order. ‘Farewell Twenties’ is a two-minute film that celebrates the passing of well-known twenties behaviours and the dawn of a new ‘adult’ age – the thirties.

In the film, the heroine holds a funeral for her twenties as she enters her next decade. The service is conducted by an earnest vicar and attended by her family and friends who gathered around her for support.

The film ends on a high, however, as we see she her successfully pass into her thirties with the arrival of a new Fiat 500X – a car that can handle everything you need for your new life as a thirtysomething without having to compromise on style.

‘Farewell Twenties’ will run on social and digital from the first week of October.

Vicki Saunders, Managing Partner at krow communications, said: “Like most rewarding pieces of content, this film is the product of a true and relevant behavioural insight: there’s a lot you give up when you move into your thirties but driving in style shouldn’t have to be one of them.

“‘Farewell Twenties’ was written to raise a smile amongst everyone out there who has made the sometimes painful move from carefree singleton to responsible adult.”

Kate Barrett, Brand Communications Manager at Fiat, said: “The Fiat 500 brand has always been synonymous with stand-out style, but the new Fiat 500X also brings the space and technology young people are looking for when they move to the next stage of their adult lives.

“What krow has created in ‘Farewell Twenties’ is a piece of insight-led content which demonstrates that growing up doesn’t have to mean growing ‘old’.”

About themission:themission is a technology-embraced marketing communications and advertising Group employing 1,100 people in the UK, Asia and US. The Group comprises two divisions: Integrated Agencies and Sector Specialist Agencies, which work together to provide Clients with the expertise and resource to make them more successful in today’s challenging environment.

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Director Sune Sorensen collaborated with Serviceplan Middle East on a story about two brothers, who reconcile during Ramadan (the month of forgiveness). Sorensen’s interpretation of the narrative turned into a beautifully told story that takes the audience on an emotional journey in which a father struggles with the heartbreaking memories of his brother, with whom he has had a falling out years ago. The denouement portrays a powerful moment of reconciliation where forgiveness wins over stubbornness and pride. The epic TVC has a cinematically stunning aesthetic and the director wanted to emphasize the importance of putting aside our ego and to forgive, in particular during a month such as the Ramadan, where families get together.

Director Sune Sorensen: “I was equally humbled and excited to take part in this - it felt like one of those very special moments with a message that really resonated with me. Life is too short to waste it on pride or ego - we only stand to lose that way. And we gain so much from forgiveness and reconciliation. Love always wins.”

Filmed in Lebanon during a 2-day shoot, the commercial features Elie Mitri, a Lebanese actor Sorensen had spotted in a Grand-Prix award-winning film.

Sorensen continued: “The client and agency took a great leap of faith with me on this film. What started off as a 30 second commercial ended up as an epic 3 minute one-take, and it took a lot of courage for everyone to understand the value of that. I wanted to portray the film’s emotional development with a sense of immediacy by creating a proximity to the actor and his feelings of distress and turmoil while they happened. A pain that nor he, or we, could escape from because they appeared in the moment. This meant going beyond the natural boundaries of traditional commercials - to allow space for the internal process to externalize and to allow uncompromising authenticity with the characters. The strength of this approach became apparent almost the second we started shooting. The actors had room to truly convey their emotional distance and Elie could dig deep into his character’s feelings of remorse and resentment for not being able to reconcile with his brother during such an important month of the year - it was very hard to watch, even behind the camera, and let's just say the actors were not the only ones crying. The experience was very moving.”

The commercial will be featured across on TV across the entire MENA region on Rotana Khaleejiah + MBC Drama (MENA) and Dubai TV. It will also air online for the GCC region, and on social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube). There is a full-length directors’ cut as well as 15 second TV trailers and 1 minute cuts for social platforms.

In the Director’s Cut, the film features a very famous song, “Say Something” by A Great Big World (it has several billion hits across social platforms and music streaming services). About the choice of song, Sorensen says: “I spent a great deal of effort getting this song. It meant the world to me. In fact, it so much so that I got in contact with Ian Axel and Chad King personally to convince them why their song was the only right song for me. Everything about this film came naturally to me, it almost spilled out of me, but I needed to feel the music in a way that was equally profound and instant. I adapted over 400 songs to the film during post production and we even composed several of our own but none of them felt right. Until I found “Say Something”. Not just because it was poetic, painful and beautiful, but because it told our story exactly the way I always imagined. The song’s emotional progression matched the narrative and actor perfectly, but the song was also meaningful on more levels. Amongst other, I found it symbolically fitting that many people know the song with Christina Aguilera’s voice - thus eliciting a sense of lost companionship similar to that of the story, but on a very personal level directly with the audience themselves - they will be anticipating her voice, but it never comes, and instead we get this powerful, solitary voice of a man in pain - exactly like our actor.”